Binder



i .Unirses'rArEsrATENT OFFICE.

LOU'IS ELKIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS;

BINDER.

T0 allwhom t may concern.' Y l Be it known that L Louis ErniN,` a citizen of the United States, residing atChicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a newv and useful Improvement in a Binder, of which the following` is a specification. i

My invention relates to temporary binders for holding loose leaves and sheets in a flat and compact manner.` More particularly my invention relates' to what is vcommerciallyknown as a transferbinder usually employed forv holding loosejsheets such as invoices, vouchers,jetc., after theyhave been detached or removed from otherbinders or books, so ,that theyai'e readily available for future reference., Y y ,v

The primary object of myinventionis the provision of abinder device that is simple' in construction and therefore Veasy to operate, readily manufactured at a minimum cost, and eilicient and dependable in perfoiining lthe functions for which is designed. Another objectis vto provide flexible posts upon which the sheets j are impaled and which will project through one of the outer covers of thebook where they may bejlocked in position to prevent the accidental separation of the covers. A further objectis to provide an elastic springQpost for performing the above mentioned function that is capable of being bent down flat against the outer surface of the upper cover and yieldingly act thereon to retain this cover in normally closed position but at the same time permit of the manual opening of the book whenever it is desired to inspect the sheets bound therein. Still another object of my invention is to position the Hexible and elastic posts when locked in a manner so that they may overlap each other at their ends but not become superimposed the one upon the other and thereby increase the dimensions of the binding edges. Still further objects will be apparent to others skilled in this art and I propose to attain these divers objects in substantially the manner hereinafter fully described and as more particularly pointed out in the claims. I will now refer to the accompanying drawings which in a sense are diagrammatical for the purpose of illustrating the types of my device.

In the drawings Figure l is a top plan of a binder made in Speeication of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 14, 1922. f Application inea nay ze,

ieee. serial N6. 399788.

accordance with my invention wherein the i cover is yieldingly held closed.

h, Figure isa similar fragmentary view illustrating the manner of overlappingl the posts when it is not desired to` yieldingly retain the cover closed.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section through the binding elements, the view being taken on line {i3-3, Figure 2, for the purpose of convenience.l

Figure 4 is .a transverse` section on line f-i, Figure 2.

v ln referring tothe drawings I have designated similar elements by the same reference charactersthroughout theseveral views, and by referring to said drawingsi-t will-be seen that I employ front and rear cover members 5 and 6 respectively that are preferably offany suitable stiff material such as binder-board, card-board, and the like, the front covermeinber 5 having a flexible hinge element adjacent the'binding edge or back to permit of'its being readily opened .without ybreaking the board ofy which the cover-fis made. The rear ,cover member 6 is'slightly longer than thefront member and has its binding'edge foldedoverto provide a flap 8 KYin which suitable spaced openings orV eyes 9 are made the'purpose whereof will hereinafter more fully appear. ,y y Y i l Mounted between the liexible portion 7 and the" adjacent edge of the front cover member is a suitable longitudinally elongatedfplate lOfo-fanetal that `,is-secured to this portion of the front cover by means of pointed or triangular shaped ears 11 provided in the plate and which are bent downwardly through the cover member and clinched upon theunder side thereof as seen in Figure 3 of the drawings. A pair of key-slots 12 are formed in the plate l0 to receive the posts that are inserted through the perforations in the loose leaves or sheets 13 to be filed and retained in the binder, and said keyslots may be either longitudinally disposed with respect to the plate 10 as illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawings or transversely thereof as seen in Figure 1 of the drawings.

@Mining with the longitudinal aXis of each key-slot l have provided a pair of oppositely disposed gripping lingers or lugs 14 that are up-turned out of the plate l0 and have their upper or outer portions converged inwardly a slight distance for the purpose of providing a firmer grip upon the post ticity will yieldingly hold the cover closed but' which is adapted to be inserted between each pair of ears as will now be described.

rlhe posts 15 which I employ comprise suitable lengths of coiled spring wire the outer ends whereof are provided with rounded enlarged heads or knobs 16 of greater diameter than the narrowest portion of the key-slots 12. The inner ends of the posts are connected by a straight piece 17 of uncoiled wire that acts both as a means for spacing the posts to register with the perforations in the loose-sheets and to assist in mounting the posts in the rear cover, this latter function being accomplished by inserting the posts `through the openings or eyes 9 1n the flap 8 and positioning the straight wire piece 17 between the flap and the rear cover by folding the flap down upon the Alatter as shown in Figure 4 of the drawings.'

The mannner of operation is as follows,

assuming the structure illustrated 4in Figure 1 is employed The leaves or sheets are impaled upon the posts 15 in the usual manner and the heads and Shanks of the posts inserted through the key-slots. These posts are then bent downl atwise against the upper surface of the front cover and the portions of said posts adjacent the gripping fingers or'lugs `14 are snapped between the same to securely lock the posts in position and thus retain the cover members in proper relation. The portions of the spring posts lying longitudinally upon the cover member beyond the hinge element 7 on account oftheir elaspermit of the cover being opened at any time to inspect the leaves bound within the structure. When the structure illustrated in Figure 2 is used the same operations are em* ployed to assemble theleaves and lock them together between the cover members and the portions of the spring posts that project out of the binder will lie substantially parallel with the binding edge of the book and ytheir portions beyond the frrippingv fingers or lugs 14 will be disposed:q su ciently oblique to the longitudinal axis of the elongated plate 10 to permit their ends to lap past each other iatly without piling one upon the other. Y

It will be understood that modifications of the structures illustrated are possible without materially departing from the principles involved, and IY therefore desire it understood that such changes are contemplated as come within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new'is:

1. A binder comprising a front `cover having spaced apertures adjacent its binding edge, a back cover, a folded-in flap along the binding edge of said back cover andprovided with spaced apertures, a U-shaped Wire vstructure the parallel arms whereof are coiled to provide flexible impaling posts that extend through the front cover apertures and the portion of said wire connecting said arms interposed between the flap and the back cover and extended through the apertures in said iap, and latehing elements adjacent each front cover aperture with which the respective posts coact.

2. A binder comprising front and back covers the front cover provided with spaced apertures adjacent its binding edge, coiled wire resilient posts arising from said back cover and extended through said apertures, said posts after'extending through said apertures being bent down laterally against the front cover, and means releasably retaining said posts in their bent positions whereby saidrposts extend la distance over the :front cover at substantially right angles to the binding edge.

Signed at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, this 26th day of July, 1920.

LOUIS ELKIN. 

